Showing posts with label patriotism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patriotism. Show all posts

Monday, November 12, 2018

Doing His Best Napoleon Impression

Europe’s self-proclaimed “strong man”, Emmanuel Macron, hosted newly elected President Donald Trump in 2017 when he visited France for the July 14th Bastille Day celebration at Dôme des Invalides where Napoléon is entombed.

Two months earlier, Macron celebrated his historic presidential victory at the Louvre as the youngest French ruler since Napoléon himself.  He stood beside the Louvre’s Pyramid on the square Cour Napoléon, once the home of the kings of France.  Rather than entering the square to the sounds of “La Marseillaise”, the French national anthem for hundreds of years, he ordered the playing of “Ode to Joy” by German composer Ludwig von Beethoven.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Macron, he hosted him at Versailles, the sumptuous palace that became the symbol of France’s absolute monarchy.

I think you get where I’m going here. Macron equates himself as one of a caste of befeathered emperors and perfumed prince bishops that ruled Europe for centuries. 

It doesn’t end there. Like Louis XIV, the Sun King who said “L'état, c'est moi” (I am the state), Macron is egotistical enough to court the Illuminati-esoterica crowd at Bilderberg comparing himself to the Roman god Jupiter who weighs his rare pronouncements carefully and sits above the fray of regular affairs.  What a schmuck.

Eighteen months into his term as France’s president, Macron’s approval ratings continue to slip, with only 26 percent of French people saying they have confidence in him.

The reason the French are disenchanted was outlined in a published report by the Los Angeles Times on October 3, 2017:

“He alienated conservatives by engaging in an ugly public spat with the army, France's most beloved institution, over his proposal to cut nearly $1 billion in defense spending in order to meet EU deficit targets. The army chief, Gen. Pierre de Villiers, resigned in protest after Macron suggested in newspaper interviews that he was angry at having his decisions questioned.”

“Last month, he annoyed liberals when he called opponents of his economic reforms "lazy"—recalling an incident from 2016 when, as Hollande's economy minister, he retorted to a pro-labor demonstrator who jeered at his well-tailored suit: ‘The best way to afford a suit is to work.’"

“The elitist moniker has stuck to Macron as he pushes ahead with his first salvo in the reform battle: undoing some of the protections guaranteed to French workers, perhaps the most pampered labor force in the industrialized world.”

Speaking at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at a World War I commemoration ceremony attended by President Trump and 70 other world leaders, Macron suggested nationalism could lead to the same death and devastation seen during that war.

“Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values.  I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death. History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again.”

You don’t have to be a supporter of President Trump to feel the outrage of such a smug lecture. Maybe Mr. Macron should have first reflected on the nearly 117,000 Americans who made the supreme sacrifice in World War I or the 29,000 who perished on the French coast of Normandy in Operation Overlord on D-Day during World War II who saved his country about nationalism.

American nationalism animated our mighty republic to save France and the world twice during those conflagrations.

Instead of displaying a shred of gratitude for being liberated by the first superpower in world history uninterested in conquest he gave America an imperious dressing down.  My father was on Omaha Beach on D-Day. 

When President Ronald Reagan commemorated the 40th anniversary of D-Day, he stood on the very spot where Allied soldiers had stormed ashore to liberate Europe from the yoke of Nazi tyranny.  Speaking to the veterans who climbed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc he said, “You are men who in your lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor.”

On June 5, 1940 Nazi forces penetrated French Gen. Maxime Weygand’s forces on the Somme River and began to march south toward Paris, reaching the capital on June 14.  The city had been abandoned by the French government and the Nazis were allowed to march down the Champs-Élysées as Parisians watched in shock and sadness.

Were it not for America, the French would be speaking German. It’s no wonder an old joke persists even today about the French military:  one of white flags, hands thrust aloft and tails tucked between their legs in retreat.

FOR SALE:  French rifle.  Never fired.  Dropped only once.

Adolf Hitler, accompanied by Albert Speer and other staff members, walks away from the Eiffel Tower after a tour during his visit to Paris in 1940. Hitler's armies took most of France, as well as Belgium and Holland, in May and June of 1940. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)



UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored News. We thank Doug Ross for the linky-love.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Patriot #1 Or Patriot #2?

Happy Independence Day!

It's a great feeling to wake up on the birthday of the U.S.A. There are many ways that we demonstrate our patriotism, our love for our country. Which way do you tend to express how you feel?

As a hugger?

As a mugger?

Either way, have a great 4th!

Sunday, October 8, 2017

She Wanted To Make A Point

A 94-year-old World War II veteran wearing a Buffalo Sabres jersey stood for the National Anthem this past Saturday.  Marian Morreale practiced how to stand for three months.  The Coast Guard veteran wanted to make a point.
"I think for these young athletes and the salaries they make, they should stand for the national anthem," she said. "But I don't think our president should use that word, SOB."
Morreale said she harbors no hard feelings toward the professional football players who are taking a knee when the National Anthem is sung, but says the anthem is too sacred to become a forum for political statements.
She entered the ice at KeyBank Center in a wheelchair, then stood and leaned against her walker as she looked up at the flag, smiling broadly as she sang along during the anthem.
"I won't be able to put my hand over my heart. I'm on one leg, and I have to hang on to my walker," said Morreale.  She had her left leg amputated last year due to poor circulation.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

And Night Fell On A Different World

3-year-old Alana Milawski on her father’s shoulders during candlelight vigil Sept. 12, 2001.  Photo credit:  Ethan Miller/Las Vegas Sun

I do not yet have the distance of history to mercifully blur the memory. I remember the crystal clear blue sky on the morning of 9-11 when the Earth became soaked with tears and night fell on a different world. 

I can never forget the images of fire and ashes and bent steel or the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace and the sorrow written on the faces of our closest allies in the middle hour of our grief.

The anniversary ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza at the World Trade Center will once again include a reading of the names of those who perished; the names which became a poem and then a prayer.  We will linger over the names and we will weep.  Our wounds have not yet healed for we remember the eloquent acts of sacrifice and the grief of strangers.

The thing I regret most on this 14th anniversary is the absence of American flags on front porches; a show of defiance against the terrorists and a soothing symbol of security for a wounded nation and the brightest beacon for freedom.

UPDATE:  It is with deepest gratitude and a grateful heart that I express my thanks to Diogenes’ Middle Finger for linking to this post.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Free Because Of Their Sacrifice

Service in the military is a credential that deserves every American’s deepest respect.  Service in the military is an expression of love of country and a desire to keep men free.

From Mark Pryor, who insulted his opponent in his bid to be re-elected as senator for Arkansas, to some mealy-mouthed worm at Salon, there are those of my countrymen who have no idea what service means.

Honoring our veterans is not an act that deadens real democracy, it strengthens it.

I was moved to tears as I read an article from Great Britain’s Daily Mail reporting on the poignant tributes to her fallen heroes one hundred years after the start of World War I.

David Masciotra blithely wrote at Salon (I'll be damned if I'll link to that bastard), “It is equally challenging for anyone reasonable, and not drowning in the syrup of patriotic sentimentality, to stop saluting, and look at the servicemen of the American military with criticism and skepticism.”

In contrast, the Daily Mail article discussed an exhibit that captured the heart of that nation.  It was, in a word, eloquent.  The exhibit’s creator filled the moat of the Tower of London with red ceramic poppies—888,246 in all—one for each of the young men who died fighting for their country.  He called the exhibit “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.”

Millions of Britons have visited the Tower, including Her Majesty. Instead of closing the exhibit today—Remembrance Day—officials will continue it until the end of the month. Nigel Farage wiped tears from his eyes, as did the Queen.

In all, there are 84 photographs that depict the honor and respect of a people for a military that fought against tyranny.  Scrolling down the page, there is a picture of the stunning sight of all those poppies in the moat, another where someone tied a picture of a soldier of that time to a railing and in the background are the poppies.  There’s one heartbreaker of a little four-year-old boy who laid a wreath made of poppies in honor of his father whom he never met.  There are others which I hope you will take the time to view.

Make no mistake, I know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, but it is important that America realize that our world would be a nightmare without the service and sacrifice of the men and women who served and are serving in America’s military in order to make men free.

It has been said that we are only alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. Our veterans are our treasures—precious treasures that remind us of why America is a beacon to the world.

No liberal agenda, no politician, no community organizer, no hack writer at some delusional magazine speaks for me.  I clamor for the syrup of patriotic sentimentality, I will not stop saluting our service men and women and I will never stop honoring their service.  God bless ‘em all. 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Spirit Of America

Photo credit:  Ethan Miller/Las Vegas Sun
Edmund Burke once said, “He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.  Our antagonist is our helper.”  Burke lived during the 18th Century and is remembered primarily for his support of the cause of the American Revolutionary War and the thirteen colonies that were struggling to break free of the British Empire.

Today, America wrestles with the filthy heresy of Islam and the Muslims who wish to do us harm.

On September 12, 2001 the spirit of America awoke from its slumber.  The American flag began to fly everywhere we looked to show defiance against the terrorists.  The sight of Old Glory was a rallying cry for a wounded nation.

NBC’s Tom Brokaw commented, “Almost as soon as the Twin Towers came down the flags went up.  They began to grow in every crevice of America.  Someone said the sight of them is like countless bandages of patriotism covering a nation’s wounds.”

Around 5:00 PM on September 11, 2001 Daniel Williams, a NYFD firefighter saw the American flag attached to a yacht that was docked on the Hudson River and grabbed it. On his walk back to Ground Zero, Williams was joined by fellow firefighters George Johnson and William “Billy” Eisengrein.  The three spotted a flagpole about 20 feet above street level and climbed up to raise the flag as photographer Thomas E. Franklin captured the image.

The image captured by Franklin, a staff photographer for The Record in Bergen County, N.J., was quickly picked up by national newspapers, magazines and television networks. Many felt it was reminiscent of Joe Rosenthal’s imageof the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

A picture that was snapped on September 12, 2001 by Las Vegas Sun photographer Ethan Miller captured the image of a little 3-year-old girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders at a candlelight vigil at the Thomas & Mack Center.  Miller struggled to get the picture he knew would be “special.”

"There was that one moment when she lifted her other hand and then the flag unfurled—I got one frame off as she did that, and that was the photo. The little girl looked up at the same time that she raised her hand and her eyes caught the light.  All of these sad adults were around her, and she looked so innocent" as she lifted her eyes skyward as if “beseeching the help of a higher power,” said Miller.

The hope of a nation was captured in that moment.  The picture of little Alana Milawski is without a doubt my favorite iconic image of September 11th.

We don’t see flags flying from porches or lining the streets of America like we did 13 years ago.  Seeing that picture again has inspired me to do something I should have done years ago. Tomorrow I will buy a 20-foot in-ground flagpole complete with eagle ornament.  I’ve already called my handyman to arrange for its installation. 

Maybe I can inspire my neighbors to fly Old Glory too.  I think I’ll visit my neighborhood Walmart and purchase a handful of flag pole sets and pass them out.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the demand for flags would soar again to bolster a nation’s morale and the sight of flags once again began to grow in every crevice of America?

Monday, July 2, 2012

Photoshop™ Of The Day: The Cherished Emblem Of Our Freedom


O beautiful for spacious skies, 
For amber waves of grain, 
For purple mountain majesties 
Above the fruited plain! 
America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!